


Living Smoke and Mirrors

by Daiako (Achrya)



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Canon-Typical Violence, Coming of Age, M/M, Magic-Users, Mystery, minor Ann/Shiho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-29 21:42:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10862649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achrya/pseuds/Daiako
Summary: 100 years ago tears in the fabric of the world opened and refugees from a place called the metaverse spilled through. These creatures, called Shadows, Others, Monsters, Demons, have carved out places for themselves and, in some cities, live side by side and even with the humans.Akira has always known he was a human with human parents but one attempted selfless act changes everything. He's marked as Other, made to leave his home, and thrust into the world of the Shadows, where he learns the pretty peaceful images he saw on the news aren't the full story. He thinks getting through the year, and hopefully proving he's human after all, will be hard enough but as time passes it becomes very clear that not not all among the Others are content with the way the world is, with merely blending in and living with humans.Some want more and are willing to do anything to get it.





	1. Prologue: I don’t know myself

**Author's Note:**

> I. Am unsure of the endgame pairings, but it will feature all three of the Protag ships lists. Ultimately I'm leaning towards polyship. Everyone wants Akira, it's just a fact, and I think he's got a lot of love to give. ;) We'll see how it goes. 
> 
> Chapter specific warnings at the bottom. Check if you don't mind being spoiled.

Akira knew about the non-humans. The Others. The Shadows. Everyone knew about them, knew the story of the Great Tearing and the ensuing struggle as humans tried to deal with creatures that shouldn't have existed spilling over into their world. The fighting, hostility, discrimination, and finally, in the last decade or so, a settling of things. The founding of mixed cities, the decriminalization of mixed marriages, the abolishment of forced Other Registration, the allowance of Others into government were still being hotly debated but were happening nonetheless. Akira thought it was all good stuff, in the distant way of people who wanted the world to be fair but knew nothing about it did, often putting him at odds with his parents.

He didn't actually know any Others but he figured everyone deserved a chance to do what they wanted without being hounded or chased down because of how they were born. Anyone who thought different was probably an asshole. His parents thought he was naive, a child who didn't understand what it meant to have dragons and demons and gods running loose meant. They curled their lips and rolled their eyes at all the teenage and college age humans rallying alongside the Others, moving into mixed cities, dating them, clucked about how kids just didn't know what was good for them.

They argued sometimes but, for the most part, it was a non issue. They lived in a human only area, the Others couldn’t even enter let alone live or work there. He was looking at colleges in the city, was studying for entrance exams, making plans, but the issue of Others wasn't a problem yet.

And then it was.

He went from human boy with human parents to Other in one terrible impulsive moment of trying to do the right thing. He'd tried to help someone but ended up exposed as not human but as something terrible and vengeful, something with *power* and full of anger at seeing someone about to be taken advantage of. He had changed on the inside, become something more, and supposedly it had shown in the outside; he didn't remember it very well. What he did remember was police officers swarming him, being shot with a tranquilizer dart, and hauled off to prison. When he's come back to himself he's been labeled an other and a violent one at that.

The woman he's tried to save told the police he's been the instigator, attacking her and the man she was with. She swore he's used ‘magic’, grown wings and claws, his skin had turned black around his eyes like some sort of mask...she’d made him sound like a cartoon character. A vicious beast who would have torn her companion apart of not for the brave intervention of the police, who had been all too eager to take credit and agree.

The man had gone unnamed and without submitting a statement. There was no need, the witness and police statement were damning and his status as a hidden Other just made him look worse.

His parents had been...shocked didn't cover it. His mother swore she'd never been with anyone else let alone some ‘filthy shadow’, his father had been furious, barely able to stand to be in the room with him when the Other Affairs Counselor had come to discuss his punishment and what would need to happen going forward. It was the counselor, an oily man with a slimy smile, who’d suggested a shapeshifter might have been the cause. Akira had never heard of them but the man had been all too willing to get right to the ugly heart of the matter.

_‘Some of them can shapeshift into human forms. They like to pass through the barrier and sink through the cracks to go unregistered and mess with perfectly good and decent people.’ He’d glanced at a stone faced Akira. ‘A human would never know the difference between a Trickster and her husband, if that was what the creature wanted.’_

Akira didn't think he'd ever be able to forget the horrified and disgusted look his mother had laid on him in that moment. She’d stared at him like seeing him for the first time, through a new lense. Not as her son but as something else, something terrible that had been inflicted on her without her knowledge, a lie she’d carried and raised.

That was the moment everything changed. Yes, he’d known something was going on, was aware that he’d been railroaded and was in serious trouble, expelled from school and all that, but the reality hadn’t hit until then. He’d told himself it was a mistake, that it would all work out eventually (he hadn’t started things, hadn’t attacked that woman, the truth would win out in the end, that was how things were supposed to work) but he knew then there was no working it out. Not when his own mother was looking at him like he was a monster.

He'd been all too willingly to pack a bag and get on a train to stay with a family friend for a year. That was the length of his probation and observation period; they didn't know what he was yet, his blood tests didn't align with any Other race they had on file, but if he really was Other there would be no hiding it eventually. Once you broke the seal there was no going back, or at least that's what the doctor he had to see said about half-breeds. ( _He’d said_ **_halfies_** _, spat it out like a curse while shaking his head and Akira didn't need to hear the words to know that he was the sort who thought it was wrong, that human blood should stay pure, or to know what he'd already mentally placed Akira in that 'shouldn't exist' category. Akira had never thought like that but when he passed the mirror or caught his mother staring at him he wished…_ )

If in a year he still seemed to be human he'd be allowed to return home, record cleared. If not new arrangements would be made. He would be registered officially, a half-breed, confined to the Other only and mixed areas. That was it. His fate hinged on the next year.

He stepped onto the train, driven by a neighbor because his parents were too busy (So busy that Akira hadn’t seen his father, who might not have been his father, in days.), sure he'd never be back. The train ride had seemed to go by both far too fast and not nearly fast enough. He’d been left with nothing but his thoughts, dark and twisting. It was like a cloud fell in his brain and covered everything, cast a shadow over it all. He tried to think about that night but it was as hazy as it had been since; supposedly the tranquilizers could do that.

He remembered seeing the woman trying to get away from that man, rushing over to help and then...anger, bright hot anger. Then nothing but fog. He puzzled it over this way and that, along with trying to understand why the woman he’d tried to help would lie like she had, but he came up as empty as he always had.

And frustrated. He was so...so something. Angry and confused and hurt; everyone had turned on him so quickly. Friends cut off contact, extended family had gone silent, even the little old lady across the street who’d always shoved gross sticky candy into his hands had been quick to scurry inside her house when she saw him. They didn’t see the person he’d been, the human, when they looked at him.

They saw the other. The shadow. The monsters and demons and freakish things that had come by the thousands, spilling out of a rip in the universe over a hundred years before, claiming to be refugees from another world.

He looked at himself in the reflective glass of the window, saw dark curls, gray eyes, and pale skin just like he always had, a human boy, and looked away.

\---

Finding LeBlanc’s probably would have gone faster if he hadn’t been struck dumb by what he was seeing the minute he stepped off that train. All around him were people, Others, just walking around as if it were perfectly normal. Which it was, here, and he got that and had thought he was prepared for it but he wasn’t. His dark thoughts dropped away, replaced by open awe.

Huge people with curled horns and hooves, people with hairs of vine and flowers and skin that looked like bark and leaves, people with cat ears, rabbit ears, mouse tails, paws, fur! Deathly pale women who glided along the ground, people with bat like wings, and so much more, more than he could ever hope to take in as they rushed back and forth along the streets, flashed by in cars, and went about their day as he watched, open mouthed. There were humans too, plenty of them, sharing the street like it was no big deal.

He saw a woman, seemingly human, holding hands with a toddler with twitching cat ears and a fluffy tail, and near tripped over his feet.

He almost collided with a few poles and just managed to avoid people as he stared and craned his neck around, trying to take everything in. Not just the people, though absolutely that first and foremost, but the noise, the buildings, the flashing lights and crush of people all around him. It was different from home, for sure.

He got turned around a few times before finally being directed down an alley by a man with elfin ears and eyes like polished amber and finding his destination. It didn’t look like much from the outside, and he couldn’t imagine it was very busy considering how out of the way it was. He stepped inside, not sure what to expect. He assumed the man he was staying with was a human, since he couldn’t picture his parents being friends with an Other, but he didn’t actually know. He hadn’t wanted to ask.

The cafe was empty, a bit dimly lit, and the air smelled heavily of coffee and spies. There was a man behind the counter, older with a receding hairline and severe facial expression. He was speaking to two women, both with dark brown skin and twisted crowns of leaves and branches growing from their heads (Dryads, maybe). The man glanced at him and frowned slightly as he wished the women a good day.

They shot Akira curious looks as they walked past him; they smelled of flowers and tree sap. 

“You’re Akira?” The man said, giving him a once over. “The way your mother went on I expected...well, doesn’t matter. I’m Sojiro Sakura. That all you got?” He motioned to Akira’s bag and, when he nodded, tossed down the towel in his hands. “Great. Follow me. Your room is upstairs, in the attic. It’s a mess and you’ll have to clean it out yourself. Bathroom’s up there, off to the side. You have access to the kitchen, there’s a convenience store down the block, and a public bath for Others close by. The whole area is pretty Other friendly but if you’re thinking about going out, check with me first. The city isn’t as nice as the news makes it seem.”

This was all said as he was lead to and up a set of rickety stairs into a large, yet stuffy, room. And it was every bit the mess that was promised. Books piled on just about every available surface, tarps, shelving units with what looked like cooking supplies on them, furniture buried under stuff, a few sad looking plants tucked back in corners, and a bed straining under the weight of more...stuff. To say nothing of the thick layer of dust on everything and the grime on the windows that was so heavy it nearly blocked out the sun.

Akira blew out a surprised breath.

“Listen, I’m responsible for you while you’re here and I’m not looking for any trouble. I know how you teenage others can get, think you’re tough because you’ve got whatever power, flying off the handle, and landing yourself in shit.” Sojiro shot him a flat look. “I don’t want any of that. Stay away from the Normals while you’re here. You bring me trouble or get into anything like you did back home and I’m tossing you out.”

Akira blinked, startled. “I...oh. Kay?”

And ‘the Normals’? He knew that was what Others called humans but...did that mean Sojiro wasn’t human? He looked it though, completely. Nothing out of place, no extra parts peeking out, no strange coloring.  

Then again, so did Akira.

If he’d learned nothing else from all of this he’d learned that appearances lied.

“Good. I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t stay up too late, I’m taking you to Shujin in the morning.” The man graced him with one last long, skeptical look then turned on his heel to head back down the stairs. Akira watched him go then turned back to look around the room, heart sinking as he realized he couldn’t actually do anything until he cleaned up.

It was going to be a long day.

Then again he’d been saying that everyday since that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Akira meets a very angry dragon-monkey on his way to school. 
> 
> This chapter mentions/heavily implies non-con via deception.


	2. Chapter Two: Throwing Darts in the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is 17/18, and a third year. For my own personal smut writing comfort. ;) They were almost all college students but writing college stuff takes sooo much more work. And gives me flashbacks to being hopped up on caffeine and tweaking out while trying to write 20 pages in 2 days.

 

Shujin Academy was pretty nice. Akira had already known that of course, he’d done his research before choosing a school; it was supposed to be the nicest and most inclusive mixed school in the city, allowing humans, Hybrids, and Others. It was top of the line in academics and athletics, both for Normals and Others, with champion volleyball clubs lead by a olympic medalist, to quote it’s website. The staff was mixed too and in fact it had been the first in the country to do so. Treating all of their students fairly and having zero tolerance for discrimination was their number one policy.

To Akira, still reeling from everything that had happened, it seemed like the best place to be. A strictly Other school was out of the question, on the off chance he really was a human who’d been set up somehow, and a human only school wasn’t going to accept him considering he was marked as a potential Other. But some place in between where he could lay low and hopefully prove that there was nothing different about him? That was the ideal. 

Akira just wanted to get through the year and then return home to pretend that everything since that night had never happened and he was sure this school was the best way to do it. Nice, normal, with no way to get into trouble. The only people who would know about what he might have been, and about what had happened, were the members of the staff who’d been there during his brief tour: the principal, his homeroom teacher, and the phys ed teacher/sports club coach and while he wished no one knew he supposed he could deal with that. 

Maybe. The coach and the principal had given him a weird feeling like...well he wasn’t sure what it was like. He couldn’t place it or really liken it to anything except to call  it ‘weird’. Or maybe, sort of, like that feeling he got right when he realized he’d said or done something wrong and was bracing for the fallout. Prickling on the back of his neck, hairs on his arms raised up, heaviness in his stomach, but without any cause. 

Weird. 

His homeroom teacher had been something else. For starters she was something he’d never seen before, a human looking woman, save the golden antlers rising up from her head, from the waist up and a deer from the waist down, complete with four legs and dark brown fur. He’d looked it up after the meeting and tour and was fairly certain she was a Cerynitis. He was also pretty sure that she hated him. She’d barely spoken and the entire time she’d shown him around the school she’d shot him looks that he could only call suspicious. When he’d tried to shake her hand at the end of the meeting she’d gone skittish, allowing a quick weak shake before stepping back to stand as far from him as she could get without it being super noticable.  

Not exactly the start he’d been hoping for but he supposed when all she knew was that he was some kind of demon delinquent it couldn’t be helped. And at least it told him not to expect anyone to be kind just because they were Others.  A criminal was a criminal no matter what species they were it seemed. Or how innocent they were. 

All the more reason to keep to himself and not let anyone else know about the other stuff if he could help it. He would focus on his grades and upcoming entrance exams, on picking a good university, and getting through the year. Easy. 

At least it should have been easy but, honestly, his first day wasn’t going so hot. Sijiro had hit him with another warning to stay out of trouble or get tossed out and he hadn’t slept great, awoke by strange dreams he couldn’t remember in the light of day. He’d missed his alarm and hadn’t been able to snag anything but toast on the way out, something he was already regretting (he was hungry all the time lately. Ravenous, really.) The train had been so packed he’d spent most of the ride being pushed and jostled into the doors and had been nearly trampled a time or two. 

Plus he was running late and had been forced to listen to two fauns talk about some depressing news story the entire ride. Apparently some Other activist, a Neko born and raised in the ‘Slums’, which was an area that was 95% Other and known to be pretty rough, had been mugged and killed the night before 

_ “Some people are thinking it’s suspicious.” The taller faun has said almost gleefully. “Because she’d been pushing so hard for Slum development and conditions and all those Human Purist groups were upset.”  _

_ “And why is that a good thing?”  _

_ “I don’t know, it’s romantic isn’t it? Being killed for the cause? She’s a hero! We’d be better off if there were more people like her who were willing to stand up and do something-”  _

_ “I prefer being alive, personally, to being a hero.”  _

A hero. Maybe there really was no good deed that went unpunished. 

To say he was relieved when he finally got off the train and started walking towards the school would have been an understatement, even with the light drizzle coming down. He wasn’t the only one running late at least; he stepped out of the station at just behind a blond girl wearing the girl’s version of the Shujin uniform. He couldn’t stop himself from, perhaps, staring a little harder than was strictly necessary as he started following her down the street. 

Her hair was a soft pale blond, pulled up into two ponytails and arranged around curved ram like horns; the horns were black and gleamed like they’d been polished or were made from some kind of precious stone. Wings sprouted from her back, demanding a shirt, hoodie, and blazer that were open from the top of her shoulder blades to just below it. They were large, tips sweeping the ground, and looked to be skin stretched between boney, lightly furred joints, like a bat. She had a tail too, long and thin with a spade shaped head. 

He was pretty sure she was a succubus or something similar to it. He’d seen a few in movies, in dramas, and in magazines, though none his parents would have ever approved of him enjoying considering Succubi and Incubi had a reputation for being involved in more...risque things. That said a lot of Other idols and stars were Succubi and Incubi and some of them were even crossing over into human stuff now. 

“Takamaki!” The girl stopped and turned around; Akira quickly looked away from her and, for lack of anywhere else to look, towards the source of the voice. 

A car was moving slowly to a stop near them. The window was down and through it he could see the Coach (Kamoshida? Akira was pretty sure that was what his name was.) beckoning towards the girl. Akira could see her visibly hesitate, head swiveling this way and that, before she edged towards the car. Kamoshida flashed her an oily grin; that weird ‘brace for it’ feeling returned to settle in the pit of Akira’s stomach. 

“You’re going to be late, let me give you a ride.” The girl tilted her head to the side and her wings folded against her back before she nodded. “Good good, get in. ...Hey, you need a ride?”

Akira almost jumped in surprise when he realized the question was directed at him. The coach arched an eyebrow impatiently and Akira hastily shook his head and stepped further away. A ride would have been nice actually but the idea of it made alarm bells go off in his head. Everything inside of him screamed that getting in the car with that man was not a good idea; the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. He didn’t know what was causing it but he had a feeling that ignoring it wasn’t an option.  

Kamoshida shrugged and then he was gone, merging back into traffic, the blond girl sitting in the passenger seat. She glanced back, green eyes curious, before they turned a corner and were gone. Akira ran a hand through his damp hair, frowning slightly as the feeling faded. That had been-

“Effing pervert.” A disgusted growl pulled him from his thoughts just as someone stopped on the sidewalk next to him. 

“Excuse me?” He saw the uniform first, same patterned pants, rolled up over the other teen’s ankles, but with a bright yellow t-shirt under the blazer and suspenders hanging down. Akira blinked then looked down at his own white turtleneck. He hadn’t seen anything about t-shirts being allowed in the handbook.

“Oh! Not you man.” He turned his attention back to the other boy’s face and found himself on the receiving end of a wide, but sheepish, grin. A very sharp toothed grin; it was what Akira imagine looking at a shark smiling would be like. “That prick Kamoshida.” 

Akira frowned harder, once again looking off in the direction the car had gone. Should he have done something to stop that girl from getting in the car? Was that teacher dangerous? But...if he was some kind of perv, and people knew about it, what was he doing teaching at the school?

“A pervert? What’s that about?” 

“Huh? You don’t…” Brown eyes lit up with understanding. “You’re new, right? You don’t look like a first year so transfer student?”

Akira nodded absently as he took in the other curiously. His hair was an unnatural and very bright shade of blond, tousled around a pair of small forked antlers, rough looking and the color of bone. His ears were long and ended in almost delicate points and his eyes had narrow, slitted pupils like a snake. What looked like scales, golden and iridescent where the sun brushed over them, crept over his forehead, darker and more defined around his hairline and fading to match the rest of his skin about half way down, and near his ears.

Throw in the fierce teeth and he was kind of scary looking. 

The long tail, covered in fluffy dark brown fur, was not so much scary as strange. Akira had no idea what he could have been.

The boy’s smile dimmed slightly and his hand came up to hover over his mouth for a split second, as if he was going to try to hide his mouth, before he reached back to rub at the back of his neck. His nails were oddly squared off, blunt, and completely black. Akira was pretty sure it wasn’t paint. 

“Sorry about that. I forget the teeth can be kinda. Freaky. For Normals.” 

Akira stood up a little straighter, already shaking his head. “No, it’s fine. Sorry. I’m just...new.” He finished lamely, knowing how stupid that had to sound. He had to stop staring at people like that, it was going to get him on someone’s bad side and, he thought as he flicked a look at Ryuji’s mouth again, that wasn’t where he wanted to be.  

“Right. Third year?” 

“Yeah. First day.” 

That earned him a curious look; it was pretty weird to be transferring into a school in his last year when the year was already underway. Akira braced himself for the questions he was sure were coming but instead the blonde flashed him another toothy smile. 

“I’m in third year too. Ryuji Sakamoto.” He smiled again, closed lip this time. Then swore loudly as he whipped his hand out of his pocket. “Shit. We gotta go if we don’t want to be late.” 

Akira tossed a look at his phone, noting the time, and groaned. Great, he was going to be late on his first day, that was going to be a great impression. Just what he needed. 

A hand wrapped around his wrist and before he could do more than stare in shock he was being dragged off down the street at breakneck speed. He stumbled over his own feet, just managed to right himself, and started jogging to keep up with Ryuji. His grip was strong, Akira wasn’t entirely sure he could have pulled away even if he wanted to, and he was fast. 

Yet, Akira noted, he seemed to be limping.  

“I know a shortcut.” Was tossed back at him as they turned down an alley. It was darker down there, the clouds suddenly so thick and overcast no sunlight could penetrate, and there were deep puddles everywhere. They splashed through them noisily until Ryuji stopped abruptly outside of one nondescript metal door. It was perfectly smooth with no way to use it. 

“Uh-” 

“We aren’t really allowed down here.” Ryuji said as he looked around quickly. “Because it’s all businesses and stuff but these ones empty right out onto the same street as the school, without going around.”

He looked down the alley one last time then stepped forward, walking right into the door. 

Or, rather, through the door. It rippled like it was made of water and then Ryuji was passing through it like it wasn’t really there at all and pulling Akira along with him. He gasped as he all but fell through it; it was like plunging into an cold pool on a summer day. A shock of cold prickled his skin, stole his breath for a moment as it passed over him, and then he was through it and standing in what looked like a dimly lit room. There were shelves and low round tables covered with gauzy fabrics, all loaded with glass bottles, small tins, bowls, candles, and so much more. The air smelled of smoke and cinnamon. 

“Mifune!” Ryuji called as he once again started pulling Akira along. “I’m using your front door.” 

“One minute Ryuji.” A voice called back and a second later a woman passed through a beaded curtain he hadn’t noticed. Akira once again almost tripped over his own feet as he got a good look at the woman. Youngish with long blond hair and eyes that were solid purple, she had four arms and hands, one of which was holding a small paper bag. “I have those herbs for your mother but-oh! You brought a friend. ...I didn’t know you had friends.” 

“Hilarious.” Ryuji veered towards her and took the proffered bag, scowling; he was still holding tightly to Akira’s wrist. “This is...uh. Uh.” He twisted around to look at Akira fully, expression clouding over as it seemingly set in that he hadn’t gotten his name yet. 

“Akira Kurusu.” He tore his gaze from the extra arms, currently resting on the woman’s hips, hastily to introduce himself. “Nice to meet you. You have a...nice store.” 

She stepped closer to him, pupilless eyes trained on him, and one of her hands darted out to grab the hand not already in Ryuji’s possession. His stomach clenched and his heart skipped a beat; an electric tingle rushed through his body. “You should let me tell your fortune. I can sense-” 

“We’re going to be late.” Ryuji cut in. “That’s why we came through.” 

Mifune’s eyes cut over to him, mouth pressing into a severe frown. Her hand squeezed his own and then slid away, leaving something with hard edges behind that had absolutely not been there a moment ago. He held it up so he could see it: it was a card, the size of a standard playing card, but much fancier. The border was made of dark feathers that seemed to be falling from the top, falling along the edges, and pooling along the bottom.The main image was of a man teetering on the edge of a cliff with a dog at his feet, attacking him. Across the top it said ‘The Fool’ and at the bottom was a stylized 0. 

He looked up, mouth open, but a sharp tug had his mouth shutting so hard his teeth clacked together. 

“Gotta go man. Thanks Mifune, I’ll get this to mom.” 

Akira managed one last look back before going out of the propped open front door of the shop. Mifune was watching them, an uneasy expression twisting her pretty features.

The school was, as Ryuji had said, right across the street from them when they emerged from the shop, and standing just inside the front gate was Kamoshida, arms crossed over his chest. No other students were anywhere in sight. They dashed across the street, Ryuji grumbling under his breath (and Akira didn’t want to be rude by pointing it out or anything, but wisps of smoke were curling their way past Ryuji’s lips with each angry word he spat out.) the entire time. Kamoshida saw them coming and an unpleasant smirk curled his lips.

The sound of a bell ringing blared over speakers just as they hit the sidewalk. 

Kamoshida stepped forward, sliding into place in front of them and effectively blocking them from going past the gate. “Looks like you boys are late.” 

Ryuji huffed out an angry breath and a thick plume of smoke. “Hey, we’re here so how about you-” 

“Late on your first day.” Kamoshida said, over talking Ryuji. “And in the company of Sakamoto. Here’s a friendly warning, if you want to get along here and not get in any...trouble you’d stay away from him. He’s what we call toxic; he ruins things for anyone who gets close to him.” The man stared down at him, eyes glittering. “And I think we can both agree Trouble is the last thing you need more of.” 

Ryuji’s hand fell away from his wrist and Akira felt the loss of the firm grip and what he realized now was inhuman warmth acutely. He looked at the blond out of the corner of his eyes and found him looking away, hands crammed into the pockets of his pants, shoulders slumped. Akira pressed his lips into a thin line as anger sparked in his stomach. 

“I can pick my own friends, thanks.” He didn’t know what possessed him to say it, hadn’t known the words were coming until they were out there, hanging in the air between them. Friends? He didn’t even know the guy and wasn’t he supposed to be keeping his head down? But, and damn him for it, he’d never been able to watch someone mess with someone else without speaking up. 

Especially when it was someone bigger or stronger or with more power. 

Which was how he’d gotten into this mess. 

Kamoshida’s smile dropped and for a beat he looked different, mouth pulled back in a sneer and eyes flashing with some dark emotion. And then the mask was back and he was shrugging, the picture of indifference. “Do what you want but don’t say you weren’t warned. Get to class before I decide to write you up.” 

Akira had never been threatened before, that he could remember anyway, but he was almost positive that was exactly what Kamoshida was doing with his 'warning'. He was all too happy to head for the front door of the school and leave the coach behind to catch any other late students; the 'weird' feeling was back in full force and with an added layer of irritation. On the upside he knew exactly what the cause of his annoyance was. 

Ryuji followed along behind him, shoulders hunched and eyes trained on the floor. He stayed silent until they were about to walk through the door; he glanced up at Akira then shuffled to the side slightly, shoulders curling more. "You should probably go in alone. Kamoshida is a lying shitstain who isn't fit to live-"

"Wow." 

"But he's right about me. If people see you with me you'll have a hard time. Dragons are-" 

"You're a dragon?" Akira interrupted, squinting at him before looking down at the tail. Ryuji scowled, tail whipping around behind him and out of sight. 

"Yes! Did you miss the breathing fire thing? And the scales!" 

"...it's more smoke than fire." 

"Dude." Ryuji made a face. "You can't just point out that a guy's fire hasn't come in yet. ...I'm a late bloomer." 

Akira sorted. Ryuji glared at him harder, eyes narrowing. Akira held up a hand in a pacifying gesture. "No, I get it. Dragon. Toxic. Fire. Anything else or can we go to class?" 

Ryuji's eye twitched. "Dick." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Akira meets a rabbit, alienates himself from a huge chunk of the school, finds a cat, and continues to get on Kamoshida's bad side. ...not in that order.


End file.
